Category: Bible Study

“Was not the hand of the Lord upon him?” –Luke 1:66 St. John the Baptizer was born of a barren woman (Lk 1:7). His father, Zechariah, was deaf and dumb throughout the nine months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy (Lk 1:20, 62). Zechariah was miraculously healed at John’s circumcision (Lk 1:64). These astounding events surrounding the conception and birth of John the Baptizer prompted the question: “What will this child be?” (Lk 1:66) The answers to this question are: 1) John the Baptizer was the “prophet of the Most High” (Lk 1:76). 2) He was the new Elijah (Lk 1:17; Mt 11:14)....

“He remembers forever His covenant which He made binding for a thousand generations – which He entered into with Abraham.” –Psalm 105:8-9 God took the initiative to make a covenant, a solemn promise, with Abram. This covenant included a strange ritual: God, represented by a flaming torch, passes physically between the split halves of the sacrificed animals (see Gn 15:9ff). This action is God’s way of swearing that, if He is not faithful to this covenant promise, then may He suffer the fate of the sacrificed animals and be torn in two. It is a most solemn pledge of fidelity...

“Do not give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before swine. They will trample them under foot, at best, and perhaps even tear you to shreds.” –Matthew 7:6 Have you ever been tempted to toss your pearls before swine? Even if we take this command to mean: “Don’t share the pearls of the Gospel with the swine-eating Gentiles,” the first Jewish Christians did not initially evangelize the Gentiles. In fact, the Lord did call the Jewish Christians to evangelize the Gentiles, but only after they had first devoted themselves to evangelizing the Jews. Are we saying that...

“Go forth…to a land that I will show you.” –Genesis 12:1 Over three decades ago, God called our family to leave behind all that was familiar, move hundreds of miles, and join Presentation Ministries as volunteers. In a small way, I came to learn some of what Abram learned about following the Lord: When you step away from what is familiar to you, you allow God to become more familiar to you. Before the Lord calls you somewhere, He has already prepared everything for you (Heb 11:16). “All depends on faith, everything is grace” (Rm 4:16). Often God doesn’t provide...